My Wood Burning Science Fair!

FIRE

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQiOsRqlWER9FnBePUIlIsD5j4suA27jz40rWwUdb14PAIiykla

Softwood

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTQeLqDbeEzfOS457FRchvG_2biuNxkjhYBWMuoClwfnkEdM6GK

Hardwood

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSwdzHSzQ8pt6E5iD_B9O_0r88nv_tmo9iTYwCwTdCcBD2DKDrsOQ

Broad Question

What type of wood, softwood or hardwood will burn faster?

Specific Question

When two boards, one hardwood and one softwood that are the same size are placed over an open fire, what board will burn through faster?

Variables

Independent Variable:

Wood type.

Dependent Variable:

Time (minutes)

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

Size of wood.
Same size wood.
Distance from fire.

Hypothesis

I hypothesize that softwood will burn faster than hardwood.

Graph of Hypothesis

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Experimental Design

I am conducting an experiment to see which kind of wood burns faster, hardwood or soft wood. since fire is involved in this experiment, I will need to be outside. I have a fire pit in my back yard that will work well for this experiment. There will be three people in this experiment. I will record my data and conduct the experiment, a second person will document the experiment, and a third person to get the wood ready and have water handy in case the fire gets out of control. I think ten trials will be enough evidence to get a convincing verdict on which wood burns faster. I will not have a computer with me outside I will record my data on a printed out data table and type it onto my computer after. I will be busy conducting my experiment to document the process I plan to video tape the experiment and document how it went from the video.




Materials list:

1. Hardwood strips.
2. Softwood strips.
3. Kindling/ firewood.
4. Fire Pit
5. Matches/ Lighter
6. Copy of Data table.
7. Camera
8. Two other people.

Resources and Budget Table

Detailed procedure:

Procedure:

1. Gather all materials and go to fire pit.
2. Fill the fire pit with kindling.
3. Start the fire using the matches or lighter.
4. Once the fire is going, place a strip of each type of wood over the fire at the same time.
5. When the fire burns through both strips of wood, repeat steps 4.
6. When you have used all 20 strips of wood, extinguish the fire.
7. Return inside and upload the pictures and email them to the teacher.

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Background Research

• A lit Candle represents every form of matter. The wax at the base represents solid, the melted wax at the top represents liquid, the fie its self and the smoke it gives off represents the gas, and the tip of the fire, usually I slightly brighter color than the rest of the fire represents plasma.The highest part of a fire is so hot that the rising gas turns into plasma.
• Hardwood has a higher density than soft wood, this could effect the burning time.
  Hard wood trees are found all over the world while sort wood is found only in northern regions.
  Hardwood is more expensive than softwood
  Hardwood trees loose there leaves in the winter while softwood normally keeps it leaves or needles year round.
• The temperature of fire varies between the burning substances; the temperature of burning wood is typically around 1600 degrees Fahrenheit.

References

• Ball, Jackie, et al. Matter. Milwaukee, WI: Gareth Stevens, Inc., 2003. Print.
• "Hardwood vs. softwood." difin.com/difference/hardwood_softwood. Web. 17 Jan. 2012. <http://www.diffen.com/difference/Hardwood_vs_Softwood>.
• Harris, Tom. "How fire works.." how stuff works.com. Web. 20 Jan. 2012. <http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysics/fire1.htm>.
• "How Hot is Fire?." did you ever wonder.com. Web. 19 Jan. 2012. <http://www.didyouwonder.com/how-hot-is-fire/>.

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Results

Data Table

Graphs

Photos

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Data Analysis

Conclusion

The original purpose of this experiment was to figure out which type of wood burns faster, hardwood or softwood. The results of the experiment that softwood burned a lot faster than hardwood. A board of softwood and a board of hardwood were put over a fire at the same time the board of softwood burned in around five minutes. The hardwood board burned in about six and a half minutes.

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Discussion

My hypothesis was that softwood would burn faster than hardwood. My results do support my hypothesis. There is a relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Some patterns and trends shown are that softwood and hardwood consistently burn at the same time, with softwood burning slightly faster than hardwood. The tests I ran went very smooth. In my tests nothing went wrong and I was able to collect a good set of clear data.If i could improve my experiment I would probably use different sized boards to get different sets of data for different sizes of wood. A cool future study would be to study different trees of hard and softwoods.